Novel Fuzzy-based Framework for Ethical Innovation in COVID-19 Vaccine Production: Integrating Individual Organizational and Social Ethics

Abstract

While several studies have addressed technical aspects of vaccine production, a comprehensive ethical framework that integrates individual, organizational, and social dimensions is still missing. This study presents a novel integrated ethical innovation model for human vaccines production, combining fuzzy-based methodology with structural equation modeling to capture both expert knowledge and empirical validation. This research is applied in terms of its purpose and quantitative-qualitative [mixed] in terms of its method. The statistical population consisted of the Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute and Pasteur Institute of Iran, both active in the vaccine production domain. The participants in the qualitative phase involved the vaccine production researchers and experts selected by snowball sampling till theoretical saturation was reached. The statistical sample in the quantitative phase included the managers and experts of the vaccine production domain and was selected by purposive and convenient sampling. The Fuzzy Delphi method run in the EXCEL software was used for extracting the variables and presenting the theoretical model, while the structural equations modeling run in the SMART PLS software was employed for factor analysis. The analysis gave rise to 60 initial indices, which were reduced to 53 after screening and Fuzzy Delphi analysis. Then, they were framed into five dimensions, including individual ethics, organizational ethics, supervisory and legal ethics, social ethics, and infrastructures. All identified factors significantly impact ethical innovation in the production of COVID-19 vaccine in the following order: Organizational ethics, supervisory and legal ethics, infrastructures, individual ethics, and social ethics.